Flawless! Michelle Obama Slays In Dior For December’s ELLE Cover

In a deeply personal interview, Oprah Winfrey and our #ForeverFLOTUS discuss her anticipated memoir, overcoming her marriage issues with counseling and how Donald Trump's birther conspiracies have impacted her family.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama is serving up a serious lewk on the December issue of ELLE Magazine! Rocking a Dior Poplin shirt, pleated-voile skirt and leather corset, our #ForeverFLOTUS looks like a stunning queen.

The Harvard and Princeton educated lawyer was interviewed by none other than iconic journalist and talk show host Oprah Winfrey. In a deeply personal and enlightening interview, the two discussed a range of topics including her memoir, overcoming her marriage issues with counseling and how Donald Trump’s birther conspiracies impacted her family.

When asked was she scared about sharing so much of her personal life with the public, Mrs. Obama surprisingly replied that she wasn’t.

“Actually, no, because here’s the thing that I realized: People always ask me, ‘Why is it that you’re so authentic?’ ‘How is it that people connect to you?” And I think it starts because I like me. I like my story and all the bumps and bruises. That’s what makes me uniquely me.:

Adding, “So I’ve always been open with my staff, with young people, with my friends. And the other thing, Oprah: I know that whether we like it or not, Barack and I are role models.”

On how she had to learn to love differently to keep her marriage intact:

“I had to learn to love differently, I feel vulnerable all the time, and I had to learn how to express that to my husband, to tap into those parts of me that missed him — and the sadness that came from that — so that he could understand. He didn’t understand distance in the same way. You know, he grew up without his mother in his life for most of his years, and he knew his mother loved him dearly, right? I always thought love was up close. Love is the dinner table, love is consistency, it is presence. So I had to share my vulnerability and also learn to love differently. It was an important part of my journey of becoming. Understanding how to become us…I share this because I know that people look to me and Barack as the ideal relationship. I know there’s #RelationshipGoals out there. But whoa, people, slow down — marriage is hard!”

“Because I don’t think he knew what he was doing. For him it was a game. But the threats that you face as the commander in chief are real. And your children are at risk. In order for my children to have a normal life, even though they had security, they were in the world in a way that we weren’t.

To think that some crazed person might be ginned up to think my husband was a threat to the country’s security; and to know that my children, every day, had to go to a school, and soccer games, parties, and travel; to think that this person would not take into account that this was not a game—that’s something that I want the country to understand. I want the country to take this in, in a way I didn’t say out loud, but I am saying now. It was reckless, it put my family in danger, and it wasn’t true. And he knew it wasn’t true.”

On no longer living in the White House and the simple freedoms that come with that:

So here I am in my new home, just me and Bo and Sunny, and I do a simple thing. I go downstairs and open the cabinet in my own kitchen—which you don’t do in the White House because there’s always somebody there going, ‘Let me get that. What do you want? What do you need?’—and I made myself toast. Cheese toast. Then I took my toast and I walked out into my backyard. I sat on the stoop, and there were dogs barking in the distance, and I realized Bo and Sunny had really never heard neighbor dogs.

On holding up Barack and combatting the pressures that came with the being the first Black family in the White House:

“Trying to be the calm in his swerve. You know, when the leaves are blowing and the wind is rough, being a steady trunk in his life. Family dinners. That was one of the things I brought into the White House—that strict code of, You gotta catch up with us, dude. This is when we’re having dinner. Yes, you’re president, but you can bring your butt from the Oval Office and sit down and talk to your children. Because children bring solace.

They let you turn your sights off the issues of the day and focus on saving the tigers. That was one of Malia’s primary goals; she advocated throughout his presidency to make sure the tigers were saved. And hearing about what happened with what school friend. Immersing yourself in the reality and the beauty of your children and your family. Plus, on the East Wing side, our motto was, we have to do everything excellently. If we do something—because the First Lady doesn’t have to do anything.”

“Yes. We have to feel that optimism. For the kids. We’re setting the table for them, and we can’t hand them crap. We have to hand them hope. Progress isn’t made through fear. We’re experiencing that right now. Fear is the coward’s way of leadership. But kids are born into this world with a sense of hope and optimism. No matter where they’re from. Or how tough their stories are. They think they can be anything because we tell them that. So we have a responsibility to be optimistic. And to operate in the world in that way.”